Five near-miss moments: Could The Beatles’ trajectory have been starkly different?
Over the course of just under a decade, The Beatles dramatically altered the course of popular music forever, and their seemingly effortless inventiveness when it came to crafting melodies, and later on, studio experimentation, was integral to the development of countless musical innovations. Pop music would have still lived on without the existence of the Liverpudlian quartet, but it would undoubtedly sound an awful lot different had they failed to ever grab the attention of the mainstream.
However, it wasn’t as straightforward for them as it might initially appear, and they can be thankful for the input of other non-members that they surrounded themselves with for providing input along the way. Had the group not received the managerial guidance of Brian Epstein, then they may have never have dominated the charts around the world or been offered a record deal. Had they not had George Martin’s production expertise, they might never have developed beyond their rock and roll roots and begun to create more ambitious works.
The four of them alone would still have been a formidable creative force, but having the expertise of others constantly guiding them along the right paths throughout their career was what gave them the upper hand over contemporaries who weren’t as fortunate to have the same support network. If they hadn’t had these people around them, then perhaps they’d have made a few more disastrous career decisions or failed to make the necessary changes that pushed them over the edge to greatness.
There are plenty of times where a last-minute alteration saw The Beatles avert crisis, and had they gone through with their original plans or not been persuaded to make the right changes, then the course of their career could have looked a lot different. It’s a case of the butterfly effect, whereby the smallest difference would have created the most dramatic change, but we can be thankful that these minute alterations were made and contributed to the long-lasting legacy that the group created for themselves.
Five times small decisions changed the career of The Beatles:
‘Please Please Me’ was originally slower
The Beatles’ earliest singles were a roaring success largely because of the energy that they had. It wasn’t dramatically different from other contemporary pop groups, but the rich enthusiasm and verve that they delivered their songs with was ultimately what made them such a compelling group with immense amounts of promise. All of the singles from Please Please Me follow this same formula of having an indelible hook mixed with a fervent passion.
However, the title track from their debut album could have been an outlier had it not been for the intervention of George Martin. John Lennon had originally written the song as an homage to Roy Orbison, taking influence from his song ‘Only the Lonely’, but original takes of the song were “dreary” according to their producer, who suggested that they up the tempo and create a sense of urgency that will immediately grab listeners. It paid off in a significant way, and as far as creating an early impression of what the group had to offer, the final cut of ‘Please Please Me’ ended up being a perfect example of why the group had such a buzz surrounding them.
‘She Loves You’ nearly had more enunciated lyrics
It wasn’t just ‘Please Please Me’ from the band’s early singles that could’ve sounded different without intervention. However, the iconic chants of “yeah, yeah, yeah” in the song’s chorus wouldn’t have been there if a certain James McCartney had had his way and convinced his son Paul to change the lyrics., and the band would probably not have connected with the younger audience that propelled them to fame in quite the same manner.
If the group chose to sing in Received Pronunciation rather than their hybrid of Liverpudlian accents with a dashing of Americanisms, then the chorus would’ve been “she loves you, yes, yes, yes”, but it would’ve sounded dreadful and completely out of touch with modern times. You might find it annoying when certain phrases or pronunciations slip into your vernacular from other parts of the globe, but if all British bands sang in the Queen’s English, we probably wouldn’t have a music industry anymore, so be thankful for the “yeahs”.
‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ went through a lot of production changes
The most subtle changes can often make all the difference, and while the original demo takes of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ are recognisable as being the same song as the incredible Revolver closer, they’re lacking a number of crucial ingredients that tip it over the edge into the sublime. The track was always going to be a demonstration of their newfound love for psychedelia and Indian music, but something about the first take feels flat in comparison.
For starters, the unconventional looping drum pattern that Ringo Starr laid down for the final cut adds so much to the overall trippiness of the song, as the standard 4/4 beat that it originally had doesn’t do a huge amount of justice to a song that’s meant to mirror how it feels to take LSD. There also isn’t a single chord change in the original, but some harmonic changes in the countermelody produce a few minor alterations in the album version, and the added tape loops are the final missing piece that the original didn’t have enough of. It was a case of pushing the boat out further than before, and by the time they finished the song, they’d done that and then some.
‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ sounded almost cheerful
If ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was the band’s first psychedelic marvel, then ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ is their most notable, but it similarly started out not sounding anywhere near psychedelic enough. Frankensteined together from both takes 7 and 26 that Lennon laid down, the song went through multiple significant changes, but the original version of the song doesn’t have the same ominous feel that the finished product possesses.
The track was originally conceived as an acoustic ballad and was largely in a major key, and the fact that the song changed keys so many times over the course of its early incarnations is partly why it ended up sounding so bizarre in the final version, as the two different takes it had to be stitched together from had to be altered to the same pitch and tempo so that it would work. Ultimately, it was all the better for this final tweak, and it definitely wouldn’t have had the same impact as a pillar of psychedelic music if it had stayed as a simple and sparse composition like it was.
Ringo Starr briefly left the band during the recording of <em>The White Album</em>
Ringo Starr has often had his critics for being the weak link in the band, but tease him, belittle him or send him unwanted fan mail all you want, because he’ll always be an integral component of the band’s sound. His drumming may not have had the same level of flair as others, but it fit perfectly with the band’s output, so when he decided that he was going to leave the band part of the way through the recording of The White Album, the rest of the group were left in a bit of a predicament as to what to do.
While Paul McCartney was more than skilled enough to stand in as a temporary replacement for the two songs that the band recorded during Starr’s brief hiatus, it’s not clear whether they had a long-term solution up their sleeves. They could’ve recruited someone else to pick up the sticks, but in reality, the band wouldn’t have been the same without his presence, and so they needed to grovel to him to get him to return. McCartney’s turns on ‘Back in the USSR’ and ‘Dear Prudence’ filled a gap, but there wouldn’t have been half of The White Album, Abbey Road or Let It Be had Starr not returned to the ranks before all four members collectively called it a day. Think about that…
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